Survival Mode

The new Survival mode offers a unique and refreshing gameplay experience that is markedly different from the base game. The player will assume the daunting task of building a city from the ground up.

The small population of a new city will put enormous stress on all retail and production businesses. The strategies required for overcoming the challenges during the city’s initial growth phase will be radically different from what you are familiar with in the base game.

To successfully grow your cities and ultimately build your nation into an economic powerhouse, you must learn new strategies and execute them flawlessly.

How to enable the Survival Mode

To enable the Survival mode, open the DLC menu and click the [Survival Mode] button as shown below.

Survival Mode Game Settings

You will find the following new options on the New Game Settings menu when the survival mode is enabled.

Developed City at the Beginning
Whether there is a developed city at the beginning or not. The game is more challenging if you have to start from scratch without a developed city.

First City Cash Level
This setting determines how much cash your first city in the game will have. A lower cash level will lead to a more challenging game.

Public Expenses Index
This index determines the recurring expenses of public facilities, which affects the game’s difficulty playing as a mayor.
When it is set to a high value, the same public facility will have higher operating expenses.

Land Price Index
This index determines the prices that the government sells its land and natural resource sites to corporations.

Gameplay Mechanism Explained

The gameplay for this City Economic Simulation DLC focuses on building a nation from the ground up.

You will see the following screen when you start a new game with the Survival Mode enabled.

Special settings of the Survival Mode include:

1) All products are locked, requiring reinvention, except the products under the Food and Beverage mega class and the products in which you have expertise.

2) The “Competing Nation’s Population” will be displayed at the top of the screen, comparing against yours. (The competing nation is an imagined nation whose main purpose is to give the player a stronger sense of competition.)

In addition, you will find the following differences in a game with the City Economic Simulation DLC enabled, compared to a standard game.

The maximum number of AI companies is limited to 5 to simulate the fact that when a nation is in its infancy, not too many companies are willing to make investments in it.

Seaports are not available, and the player must make efforts to build up supply chains of raw materials and semi products that are essential for production of consumer goods, which is part of the challenge in this DLC.